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Former All Blacks grade the 2024 campaign
By Henry Lee
As the 2024 All Blacks campaign finishes on a positive, but scrappy win against Italy in Turin this morning, three former All Blacks on the Sky Sports New Zealand panel have graded the season.
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The All Blacks in 2024 will end on a record of 10 wins and four losses in an action-packed first year under the new Scott Robertson regime.
The 10 wins come from two victories over the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship, three against England, and one each from Fiji, Japan, Ireland, Italy and Argentina. Robertson’s side dropped a game at home to Argentina in Wellington, two against the world champion Springboks in South Africa, and a narrow 30-29 loss at the hands of France in Paris.
“Yeah I looked up the grading scale and I thought about an eight out of ten would be good, but that’s a B- and that doesn’t really sit well with me, ” said 23-Test All Black Angus Ta’avao on the Sky Sports New Zealand panel.
“But this team is going in a new direction, and it’s hard to be in sync straight away and I think the growth that I’ve seen from the start of the season to the end, I like what Wallace (Sititi) has done, I like what the tight-five have done, so I’d lean towards a B+”.
Wallace Sititi has had an outstanding campaign in his first year as an All Black, being nominated for the Men’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year alongside Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (South Africa), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England) and Jamie Osborne (Ireland).
Current Auckland NPC assistant coach and former All Black Steven Bates thinks that the 2024 campaign is “good” not great.
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“I looked up a different grading scale, and that grade was more simple, poor, good, great,” said Bates on the Sky Sports New Zealand Panel.
“I’ve just put them in, good. It’s what ten wins and four losses are. Those four losses, have been close losses so to get to great you’ve probably got to only lose one game and that’s how I’ve seen it.”
“I will back us up when you talk about guys like Tupou Vaa’i, the growth with him, and Tamaiti Williams as well people like that who have been All Blacks but have gone up a level is really important,” said Bates.
60-Test former All Black and current Sky Sports commentator Jeff Wilson believes the All Blacks still have a long way to go, to rise to the standard of the best in the world.
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“10 and four is the record for our All Blacks coach this year, and that’s what you get judged on as an All Blacks coach. So going on to next year has this year alleviated any pressure whatsoever from my perspective when you’re the All Blacks coach? No,” said Wilson.
“He doesn’t have the benefit of time, France comes to New Zealand next year and we can only hope they bring a strong side to really test this All Black group because it will be an amazing series, but the Rugby Championship doesn’t go away.
“South Africa didn’t go away, we saw what they did to Wales, What they’ve done to everybody this year, one Test against Ireland is the one they’ve dropped, so I look at their season and go there’s the standard. Where are we in comparison to that, I think we are still a little way off.”
“To me it was unconvincing, I’m at a B-, after that performance.”
How does Jeff Wilson not remember that South Africa lost to Ireland at home and Argentina away?
Regardless 11-2 is a great season and Springboks are the best team in the world with France, New Zealand, and Ireland chasing.
Sheesh Goldie, South Africa actually lost two tests, IRE & ARG. Everyone got beaten at least twice this year so I'm not sure why the Boks are the "standard". I'd hate the ABs to follow their example. Our standard should be ABs (version 2015).
But I agree, the ABs are definitely in the B range. For me, it's a B+, the + mainly reflecting the lifting of the teams baseline from wobbly to now comfortably being able to win ugly.
Bring on 2025.
Difference is SA lost by a solitary point in both losses, and in the case of Argentina, away after making 11 changes to the team.
AB losses were by larger margins and lost at home, playing arguably their best sides.
Agree with Wilson B- at best. And that is down to skilled individual players who know how to play the game - not a cohesive squad who know their roles and game plan. For those who claim that takes time to develop, the process is to keep the game plan simple at first and add layers as the squad gels and settles in to the new systems. Lack of progress against the rush D, lack of penetration and innovation in the mid-field, basic skill errors and loose forwards coming second in most big games all still evident in game 14 of the season. Hard to see significant measureable progress.